Chapter 9
CORA
It happens rather quickly. One minute, I'm being groped by the security guard and the next, Frankie and him are rolling around on the floor in a scuffle. I want to stop it, but just like the night Louisa murdered Daphne, I’m frozen to the spot.
My throat won't even let me let out a scream to get some help.
Not that I think anyone would help, there are plenty of others just standing around watching and refusing to intervene.
Frankie finally gains the upper hand and braces his strong thighs on either side of the large security guard's stomach and begins to punch him in the face over and over again. My God, Frankie is insane. One might even go so far as to call him feral. Pure rage and madness give him tunnel vision; he doesn’t notice when his fists burst upon impact, blood spraying all over that expensive shirt.
His hair falls over his face, casting his eyes into shadow.
My breath hitches when the guard wraps his big hands around his neck and squeezes with all his might, but Frankie doesn’t stop.
It’s like he can’t even register that all of the air from his lungs is about to dissipate any second now.
With one final swing from Frankie, the guard's hands fall either side of him onto the ground with a comical thump. His body stills, while Frankie’s heaves for air like a beast.
He lifts his head slowly, our eyes lock, and that feral predator I caught a glimpse of retreats. His jaw clenches as he assesses me, lingering on the spot where the guard had his hand wrapped around my arm. A bruise is beginning to form around my bicep. Frankie’s eyes darken and his teeth clench.
Understanding hits me like a train speeding at a hundred miles an hour; he did that because the guard touched me. Oh dear. This isn’t good.
“You’ve made a big mistake tonight boy!” An old man shouts from behind Frankie, but he doesn’t turn around. He gets up from the guard's body, his bottom lip beginning to swell from the one blow the guard managed to land.
Frankie walks towards me and the world melts away with each of his steps. He reaches me in a few short strides and, just like before, I stand in awe of him. He glances down at my arm again and gently runs his finger over it. I flinch a bit from his touch.
“What are you doing here, Cora?” He asks quietly so only I can hear.
“Um. I followed you.” I mumble bashfully, unable to meet his piercing eyes.
“How?” He doesn’t sound mad, more curious than anything else. The truth is an embarrassing one, but I don’t want to build a complicated web of lies between us. So I offer it to him on a silver platter.
“I got into your phone while you were getting changed earlier, I just followed your location tracker.” It wasn’t my smartest move, but I’m a paranoid mess at the moment.
Although I’d heard no noise from the other side of the spare bedroom door, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was hiding something from me.
Frankie nods, a small smile creeping across his lips before he turns back to the old man that had been beyond rude and condescending.
“You know the rules, boy. We don’t turn on our own, and we definitely don’t walk away from a fight.
You offered a fight with me, then walked away.
With that being said, Frankie Garrick, I claim your seat for my own.
You’re not welcome here anymore, and if you ever bring any trouble to our doors again, I’ll have you shanked in your sleep.
” I have no idea what any of that means, but by the way Frankie’s body tenses, it’s not good.
Why had he challenged this man to a fight? And why were they squabbling over a chair?
“I know the rules. My family came up with them.” Frankie stands taller next to me before clasping my hand tightly in his.
The gesture catches me so completely off guard I don’t even mind the slight squelch that happens from all the blood as our skin connects.
“Cora, will you wait for me outside please?” His other hand cups my chin and guides it up to meet his gaze.
What the fuck is happening and why am I doing nothing to stop it? Desire pools in my stomach. This man is like my very own knight in shining armour, albeit a little broken, but I always have been a fixer.
I nod and start to leave, but when I reach the large metal doors labelled Exit, I turn back to see Frankie walking into a shadowy corner that I can’t quite see due to the large cage.
He’s talking to someone, his head tilted downwards as if that person is a lot shorter than him.
I crane my neck but can’t get a good look at who, there are too many people crowding around the cage again.
Then my eyes meet someone I'm not expecting to see here.
Striding towards me, with a face I’d liken to the devil, is Zacharias Grenville.
My heart thunders beneath my ribs as he gets closer to me.
Jaw clenched, fists balled so tightly his knuckles are white, and a burning silver fire threatens to damn us all to hell behind his eyes.
“What in god's name are you doing here, Miss Stanley?” His demand shakes my bones, and I can’t help but look down at my feet in response.
“I—I’m here to help Frankie; I saw him in the papers and he didn’t look well, so I came to help. For Louisa’s sake.” I hope to god that he doesn’t see through my thinly veiled lie, because if I’m honest, he’d see that I’m here for selfish reasons.
“Don’t speak her name to me.” His lips curl into a haughty sneer that makes him looks identical to Ben save his tawny skin and dark hair.
“My apologies for any offence, Mr. Grenville.” I bow my head in practiced allegiance.
“Offence? You have no idea what you just cost me, and it’s going to take more than a few simple whispered words to make this right.” My cheeks heat.
I don’t want to think about that night. I don’t want to remember how he’d told me to suggest that Louisa should marry Ben or how it felt to have his voice inside my head, a great and terrible noise I’d never forget.
Like an earthquake twisting inside of my head, pulling at my nerves and threatening to snap them if I did not bend to his will.
I don’t want to remember how I sold my friend out so easily.
“I’m sorry, but I don't understand what I’ve done wrong.
” I keep my head down, the way Mother and Father showed me to do if I ever found myself alone in such company.
An icy chill settles over my body despite the packed warehouse.
Panic starts my heart hammering in my ears.
There aren’t a lot of people in this world that you don’t want to piss off.
Zach Grenville is one of them, and Ben is the other, even if he does seem the more reasonable of the two.
Unluckily for me, it isn’t Ben I’ms dealing with.
“You distracted my protégé. I wanted to do things his way, but since he’s been booted out of his own establishment, I’ll have to return to my brother and tell him exactly why that happened.” His words curl around me like a python, squeezing the life out of my breath.
“If I were you, Miss Stanley, I’d leave Birmingham and never come back.
Go back to your tea parties, your dressmakers, your engagement—” My eyes widen.
How did he know about the duke? “—and forget about everything you’ve seen here.
Forget about Louisa and her family. Do yourself a favour and save the heartache.
Because that boy over there cannot be saved from his demons. ”
My eyes flick over to where Frankie still stands, arguing with the mystery person in the shadows.
“He’s diseased, Miss Stanley. Him and his sister. Distance yourself immediately, because if you get in my way again I’ll see to it that your family’s name will lie in tatters at your polished feet.”
A single tear escapes the corner of my eye.
How could I ever give him up? “I can’t. I love him.
” The words fall out of my mouth of their own volition.
It’s the truth, it was love at first sight.
Ever since I met him, I’ve felt a pull towards him and tonight I can deny it no longer.
Could I really ruin my family's fortune for the sake of love?
Would it be worth it in the end? Could Frankie be fixed?
Zach scoffs as if he heard my train of thought. “Trust me when I tell you that it is a curse to love a Garrick. I have watched my brother descend into madness, all because of some stupid girl.” Zach’s words strike me with all the hatred and malice that he’s famous for.
I don’t know what possesses me at that moment, perhaps it's the adrenaline from the night, or maybe it’s because I don’t really have anything else to lose.
But when the palm of my hand slaps across Zach’s face, I know I’ve fucked up.
He doesn’t even flinch. In fact, my hand throbs from the impact.
I look down at my reddened palm and rub the tender skin.
“Don’t speak about her that way. You have no idea who she is and what she has been through.
” I couldn’t defend my friend before, but I can now.
“Oh don’t I?” Zach’s head tilts to the side. “I know more about her than you ever will. Now go and tell Frankie that whatever it is that’s between you two is over, or else I’ll start killing little sisters.” My eyes widen at his threat.
“You wouldn’t dare.” I hiss.
Zach’s grin turns positively evil at the crack in my voice.
“Oh on the contrary, there is nothing in this world I wouldn’t do in order to get what I want.
And right now, what I want is to make sure my brother doesn't end up in an asylum. He means a great deal more to me than your family climbing the social ladders.”
I shrink back from him as I weigh up my options.
I should leave; all of this was never really any of my business, and I only came here to soothe my own guilty conscience.
But my heart feels like it might break in two if I leave without giving him an explanation.
Then there’s also the surprise I’d left for Frankie in his flat…
“Just give me tonight, please, I’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
Zach’s eyes narrow as he takes another step forward. “One night. Then you’re gone.”
I nod erratically and spin on my heels to head outside to wait for Frankie before Zach can change his mind.
The bitter December chill prickles my exposed skin as soon as the doors are open.
I take a few deep breaths in and out as I stare down at the concrete and try not to cry.
All of this is so wrong. How am I supposed to just let him go?
I can’t go back to my family's manor and announce my engagement like nothing’s happened, it’s more complicated than that!
I don’t want to get married to please other people, I want to (eventually) get married because I’m in love.
Why does everyone treat me like I’m some pawn in someone else's chess game?
But I couldn’t exactly defy the Grenville brothers… Could I?
The door behind me opens with so much force it slams against the red brick.
I whirl on the spot, fully expecting Zach Grenville to be marching out of there to make sure I’d left.
But it’s Frankie. He says nothing as he takes huge strides towards me, his jaw locked, his deep brown eyes alight with a fire I’d not seen in him before.
Frankie reaches me in seconds, capturing my jaw with both of his hands and tilting my head up to meet his.
My legs go to jelly, our faces inches from one another, our cold cloudy breaths mingle against the darkness of the car park.
“Frankie—”
“Don’t.”
Then his lips are on my own, crashing down like a force of nature.
Each stroke of his tongue against my own holds a passionate urgency I’d never experienced.
Sure I’d been kissed plenty of times, but never like this.
His fingers entwine into my hair, the slight tug of it makes me gasp, filling my lungs with bitter air.
My brain turns to mush as his hot body presses against my own.
I have no idea who or what I am anymore, all I know is that I don’t want him to stop. I’d think about the consequences later.
The door slams open for the second time. Frankie jumps back at the sound before turning around and shielding me with his body.
“Seriously?” My blood chills at the sound of Zach’s voice. I peer around Frankie to see him lighting a cigarette as he walks towards us.
“Not now Zach.” Frankie groans.
“Yes now, Frankie. You fucked up in there, and while I’ve been feeling benevolent recently, the mercy my brother has shown you so far out of love for your sister has run out.” Dread coils around me.
“No. No, please. Tell me what it is you want and I’ll give it to you.” Now it’s my turn to shield him. I don’t know if Frankie knows who he’s dealing with here, but I’ve heard enough stories about what happens to people who mess with the Grenvilles. I couldn’t let that happen.
Zach laughs humourlessly. The sound of it rings in my ears like warning bells.
“Well, your boyfriend owes me a lot of money. Then there’s the fact he’s lied to my face all fucking day, not to mention he’s not fulfilled his promise to my brother yet.
I don’t think you could handle it, to be honest, Miss Stanley.
Now stand aside.” Zach flicks his cigarette onto the floor, just as the sound of screeching tires echoes throughout the car park.
A blacked out Bugatti drifts into the carpark leaving a trail of tire smoke behind it. My eyes lock onto the number plate, the letters glue me to the spot. BGV 1.
Benjamin Grenville had arrived.